


you are the ones i need

by basha



Category: Lemonade Mouth (2011)
Genre: Multi, One Word Prompts, how weird is it that charlie and stella both have brothers named Tommy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:55:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23384857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/basha/pseuds/basha
Summary: Snapshots from the life of Lemonade Mouth, based on 50 randomly generated words.
Relationships: Mo Banjaree/Charlie Delgado/Wen Gifford/Olivia White/Stella Yamada
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44





	you are the ones i need

**Author's Note:**

> I generated 50 random words and wrote tiny little drabbles for them; some interpretations are more strict that others.
> 
> Enjoy!

  * obtain



“Don’t worry so much, Liv,” Stella says, looking up from the sign she’s painting. “This time I got protest permits.”

  * guitar



Olivia hasn’t played guitar in years, but it comes back naturally as she sits in Wen’s backyard and starts to play. He watches her like he’s waiting for something extraordinary to happen, and after a little while it does: Olivia remembers the fingering for ‘You are My Sunshine’ and sings it softly, not quite looking Wen in the eye but meaning it for him all the same.

“This is the first song my mom ever taught me,” she tells him.

  * arrest



By Wednesday, Mo’s heard three different versions of how Lemonade Mouth got “arrested” from three different sources. She grabs Wen in the hallway, wrenching him out of a conversation with Stella.

“What’s wrong with you?” Stella asks, amusement and concern both present in her voice. 

“Wen,” Mo says, trying to sound serious. “Stop telling people we were busted trying to ‘liberate’ the drink machines. People are gonna think we’re nuts.” Wen laughs.

“Aren’t we?”

  * stare



Stella knows she spends a lot of time staring at Olivia. She’s observant enough to note that she’s not the only one.

  * reflect



“Do you ever think about how far we’ve come?” Charlie asks, lying on the floor in Stella’s room, staring up at her ceiling. “Like, as a band but also, like, as people?”

“Charlie,” Stella groans. “I’m too high to think right now.” Charlie laughs and leans over to take the joint from her. 

  * inconclusive



Mo’s always believed in using the scientific method to solve problems, but this one might be beyond its metaphorical grasp. She watches Charlie watching Stella watching Wen watching Olivia, who keeps accidentally catching Mo’s eye, and determines that she doesn’t have quite enough data to draw a conclusion. Yet.

  * actually



Everyone assumes that Olivia, resident cinnamon roll, is too pure ever to curse. Charlie, Wen, and Mo learn otherwise during a heated game of Mario Kart, and Stella wakes up the next morning to dozens of videos of Olivia saying “fuck.” She saves them all to her phone. 

  * selection



Lemonade Mouth, as a collective, is good at playing music, staging a revolution, and being best friends. They are bad at splitting into teams for game night. 

“For the last time,” Olivia sighs. “It’s just pictionary.” Mo turns to her with a murderous look.

“There is no ‘just’ in pictionary,” she says. “And I want Charlie on my team.”

  * legal



Their parents decide they should get a lawyer as well as an agent before they sign with any particular record company. 

  * nifty



“I don’t understand,” Oliva says, helplessly, as her bandmates dissolve into laughter. “What did I do?” Mo clutches Wen and tries to pull herself together. 

“Liv,” she gasps, “I know you live with your Gran, but no one says ‘nifty’ any more!”

  * beneficial



Hanging out with Mo and Olivia comes with a lot of perks for the other three, including, but not limited to, better grades.

“See?” Mo says, nudging Charlie with her elbow. “See what happens when you actually do the homework?”

  * sun



When Olivia smiles, Wen can’t help but think of the sun. 

  * pest



“Go away Tommy!” Stella shouts, slamming the door behind her, phone jammed between her shoulder and her ear. “I’m trying to talk to Mo.” She hopes Mo can’t hear Tommy on the other side of the door, chanting “Stella’s got a girlfriend! Stella’s got a girlfriend!”

  * daughter



The first couple of times she drafts the letter, she ends up crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash.

“Don’t think so hard, Liv,” Charlie says, putting his arm around her. “He’s gonna be happy to hear from you.”

  * tow



Tommy calls Charlie who calls Wen who calls his dad, who agrees to give Tommy a tow.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Gifford,” he says. “The car’s pretty new, I wasn’t expecting any kind of trouble.”

“No problem,” Mr. Gifford says. They ride back to town in Mr. Gifford’s pickup truck. “This may be a strange question,” Mr. Gifford says after a while. “But do you know, exactly, the nature of the relationship between your brother and my son and those girls?” Tommy laughs. He’s tried, unsuccessfully, to bring this up with Charlie before.

“I wish I knew,” he says. 

  * furry



After a few years, Olivia puts her foot down.

“Guys,” she says. “No more kittens as presents.” 

  * daily



Some weekends, early on, before they were all permanently attached at the hip, Charlie found himself longing for school, where he’d see the others at least once a day.

  * dark



Wen almost says it in the dark of night at a sleepover in Charlie’s basement, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t know if he could bear to hear their responses. 

  * fool



Wen’s not as stupid as he acts (most of the time), but he hams it up because he likes to make them laugh. He’s like a jester, performing for his king and queens. 

  * island



When they get their first paycheck from Dante’s, they spend hours in Olivia’s backyard talking about what to do with the money. Mo and Olivia both decide to put their money away in a college fund. Stella decides to put her money away too, only she’s saving up for a trip for all of them to NYC. In the end, they don’t need to use her money, because the record company pays for it. 

  * cub



For two months, Charlie and Wen watch baseball games together, each refusing to admit to the other that neither actually like or really understand baseball. 

  * luxuriant



The hotel rooms they stay at while on tour are absolutely incredible. The beds are way too soft, and they end up camping out in a pillow fort on the floor of the girls’ room.

“Much better,” they all agree. 

  * blush



There’s something about the way Charlie blushes, all pink and bashful, that makes his bandmates try to bring it out in him all of the time.

“Stop it,” he cries. “Stop calling me cute!”

  * gruesome



“That’s appalling,” Mo says, watching Wen and Stella waste some virtual zombies. “Why is there so much blood?” She watches as Stella bludgeons a zombie over the head with a golf club. “Can I play?”

  * kitty



“You guys!” Olivia shouts, the day of her eighteenth birthday. “I told you no more kittens as presents!” Her bandmates silently agree that they would take her more seriously if she wasn’t holding all four of her new furry friends in her arms. 

  * automatic



Mo isn’t even really paying attention when she hands Stella the water bottle in the middle of the gig. It’s just a reflex, practically automatic. 

Stella still replays it over and over again in her head that night.

  * bait



“Could you even pretend to focus?” Mr. Gifford asks Wen. They’re sitting in the Gifford’s fishing boat, and Mr. Gifford is busy trying to put his bait on his hook. Wen looks up from his phone, tearing his eyes away from the Lemonade Mouth group chat, a hint of a smile still on his face.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

  * psychotic



The Olivia White Defense Squad knows no bounds.

  * adjustment



Going from bandmates to significant others takes some adjusting. Wen tries to explain this change to Georgie as tactfully as he can. Georgie wrinkles her nose.

“If you get to kiss Olivia now,” she says. “Does that mean I’ll never be able to?” Wen laughs.

“Sorry kid, but I think we got there first.”

  * accessible



With Alex’s help, they ensure that every single one of their concerts is as accessible as possible. 

  * ants



It was Olivia’s idea to have a picnic, but Charlie’s the one who really latches onto it. He’s the one that sets up the blanket and the food and the music in Olivia’s backyard. He’s the one who makes the lemonade and pours them each generous cups.

“Babe,” Mo says. “This is adorable, but there are ants everywhere and it’s really freaking me out.” Charlie’s face falls.

“Hey, no worries Char,” Wen interjects. “I think I have an idea.”

Half an hour later, Olivia’s gran smiles softly as she sees her granddaughter and her friends picnicing on the kitchen floor.

  * valuable



“I’m sorry,” Olivia sobs over the phone to Stella, sometime after 2 AM. “I know I’m supposed to have a song for tomorrow, but I just don’t. I’m trying, I swear--”

“Sunshine,” Stella interrupts. “Livy-love, please, it’s okay. Take a deep breath.” She waits until she hears Olivia do so on the other side of the line. “When was the last time you got some sleep?” 

“I dunno,” Olivia admits.

“Take a break and get some sleep,” Stella says. “Your songs are beautiful, but they’re not more important than your health. Please, sunshine, you have to take care of yourself. You’re precious to us, you know that, right?” Olivia sniffs on the other line.

“Will you come over in the morning?” She asks, and Stella smiles into the dark.

“Of course, sunshine.”

  * ripe



In fall, Charlie gets the bright idea that they should go to a pumpkin patch. They take the world's cutest picture of the five of them among the pumpkins, and they all, unbeknownst to each other, make it their lock screen.

  * cure



Olivia loses her voice a lot. Over the years, she discovers the perfect cure: hot tea with honey, a hot shower, and lots and lots of cuddles. (The cuddles aren’t strictly necessary, but they’re certainly a mood boost.)

  * try



Olivia and Charlie have the same free period on Thursdays, and they tend to spend it in the Mel’s Lemonade Auditorium. One day, Charlie sits himself behind the drum set when a brilliant idea occurs to him.

“Wanna try them out?” He asks, extending his drum sticks in Olivia’s direction. 

“I dunno, Char…”

“Come on, just try!” Olivia takes his seat and mimics his posture, tapping out a simple beat. “You can do better than that,” he teases, leaning over to grab her wrists. They realize that they’re pressed against each other at the same time; they both flush brilliantly. Charlie shakes his head, as if to clear it, and then helps Liv play the basic drums to Determinate. 

  * plausible



“Oh my god,” Jules, who, strangely, is sort of their friend now, demands. “Stella, is that a hickey on your neck?” Stella scrambles to think of a plausible alternative.

“Mosquito bite,” she settles on.

“Mmhm,” Jules teases. She nods over at where Olivia, Wen, Mo, and Charlie stand at her locker, waiting for her. “Which one of them is the mosquito?”

  * hall



At the start of the next school year, Charlie notes that they’re starting to get more attention in the hallways again. 

“I thought people were done staring at us,” he mumbles to Wen, who cracks a fond smile.

“The freshmen haven’t gotten used to our presence yet,” he explains. 

  * puny



When he was younger, Wen was small and weak and utterly defenseless. Even now he doesn’t understand how little Olivia could have liked puny little him back then. He’s toughened up a bit over the years, but he’s still scared more often than not. 

More often than not, it’s Stella who’s the tough one in their relationship. Wen expects to feel kind of emasculated about all of that, but instead, as Stella slings an arm around his waist and he loops one over her shoulders, he just feels protected. 

  * silk



“Oh, Olivia,” Mo gasps, fingering the scarf. “It’s beautiful!” 

  * bell



Stella’s the only one of them who consistently gets detention. She and Brennigan mostly get along now, but there are still times when she bends (or breaks) his rules, and he or one of his minions (“teachers!” Mo reminds her) have to lay down the law. Mostly she gets in trouble for skipping class; she prefers to hang out in the Auditorium or crash her significant others’ free periods. 

Most of the time she doesn’t mind it, but once she has a particularly bad week and gets detention for running late to class too many times and ends up in detention on a Friday afternoon she was planning on spending with her significant others. She sits in her usual seats and stews, sure they’re all off having fun without her, trying to ignore the stares and whispering from the group of freshmen in the back, daring each other to chalk up the nerve to talk to the Stella Yamada. The bell rings to release them before any of them do, and she throws open the door with a bang. 

“Hey, jailbird,” Olivia says. All four of them are waiting for her outside in the hallway. She nearly bursts into tears, but instead she just throws herself into their arms. 

  * cake



When they hang out with just the two of them, Olivia and Mo like to bake. Their significant others reap the rewards, gorging themselves on their cupcakes and pastries and cookies. 

“How hard is it to make brownies?” Stella wonders as she shoves one of their muffins in her mouth.

“Not hard,” Olivia replies. Stella smiles.

“Can I come over next time and make brownies?”

“I’d love that,” Olivia replies. Mo leans over her to frown at Stella.

“You may not put weed in the brownies,” she says sternly. Stella groans. 

“Nevermind then.”

  * pleasant



Charlie wakes up from his nap, slowly, blinking awake into the afternoon sunlight. He’s snuggled against Wen in a lounge chair next to Stella’s pool. 

“Hey, love,” Wen murmurs, kissing him on the top of the head.

“Where are the girls?” Charlie asks, rubbing his cheek against Wen’s chest. Even in the heat of summer, he still has one of his endless supply of flannels on.

“In the pool,” Wen says. “Wanna join them?”

  * impulse



Mo’s never considered herself an impulsive person, but there’s something about her significant others that makes her want to grab them and kiss them all of the time.

She settles for pulling Stella into the elevator and making out with her until they get to the basement. 

  * argue



The five of them are no strangers to arguments; it’s practically a hobby for Stella. They’ve argued in seemingly every combination, and even more so as a whole group. But the other three are utterly stunned when Charlie and Olivia have an argument.

“What’s wrong with them?” Mo demands, whispering to Wen. It’s been tense all day, with Charlie and Olivia, usually the peaceful pillars of their little world, clearly furious with each other. Wen shakes his head, looking vaguely terrified. Stella tells them not to worry, that it’s normal for people in relationships to fight. But even she looks kind of scared.

“What’s wrong with you two?” Wen finally demands, when Olivia straight up ignores Charlie’s request to pass the ketchup.

“Charlie ships Harry and Hermione,” Olivia explains with disdain. “Even though Ron and Hermione are perfect.” Stella rolls her eyes.

“Can’t all three of them just date each other?” Olivia and Charlie exchange a look. Then Olivia passes the ketchup, and everything returns to normal. 

  * juvenile



Mo giggles as Wen does a flip on the handlebars on the elementary school playground. He drops back down to the ground with a flourish and a bow. Wen’s not the youngest of her significant others, but he’s definitely the most childish. It bugs her a little bit sometimes, but it’s also one of the things she finds most endearing about him. When she’s with Wen, Mo feels like a kid again, free and happy and fully present in the moment. 

She reaches up and kisses him slowly. He melts into the kiss, hands coming up to gently rest on her waist. She pulls away gently. 

“Race you to the swings!” She shouts, turning on her heel to run. She hears Wen’s startled laughter, and his footsteps behind her. 

  * jumbled



When Stella wakes up, it’s sometime after midnight, and she’s snug in a pile of limbs and bodies and soft breathing. She vaguely remembers falling asleep in a jumble of her significant others. She closes her eyes again. It will be even more pleasant waking up with them in the morning. 

  * fanatical



As weird as it is to have “fans”, Lemonade Mouth’s official stance is that they love anyone who listens to their music or supports them in any way. Unofficially, they really do love their fans, but 4/5ths of them wish they’d leave Charlie alone.

Mo grabs Charlie as soon as they're on the tour bus and away from the crowd screaming for Charlie’s attention. She pushes him into a seat and climbs onto his lap.

“You’re ours,” she growls. “Mine and Wen’s and Olivia’s and Stella’s. Not theirs.”

“Yours,” he agrees, breathlessly. “Just yours.”

  * flawless



Half of Stella’s significant others spend way too much time staring at themselves in the mirror before a show. 

“You look gorgeous,” she says gruffly, peeling Wen and Mo away from the vanity where they keep adjusting their hair. “Now let’s go.” She turns to see Olivia and Charlie looking at her plaintively, and it takes a moment before she registers what they want. Her heart melts a little bit. “You guys look gorgeous too,” she says. “All of you are absolutely beautiful.”

  * abaft



If Olivia thinks too hard about the past, she gets sad. If she thinks too hard about the future, she gets scared. But when she looks around her and finds the four people she loves most in the world (besides Gran) she’s content just to live in the present.

  * devilish



“You cannot get Olivia White Protection Squad tee shirts,” Olivia says. “I just won’t allow it.” Stella smirks, devilishly.

“Too late!” She crows, and everyone bursts out laughing. 


End file.
